The First Great Dragon War

Military action

The first war between the Gaernjo people and the air dragons

As the Gaernjo spread out across the land new land they had claimed, they began to move into the mountains where the air dragons lived. The Kajara who lived there previously were unfamiliar with dragons and believed them to be demons who required human sacrifice in order to ensure their survival in the mountains. The Gernjo however knew of dragons as where they originated from had ice dragons and they appeared in Ahnadhus, their religion. The Gaernjo believed they could drive out the dragons by hunting in the mountains and building villages to claim the land.   The dragons retaliated by attacking the Gaernjo as, although they did not want nor need a human sacrifice, they did need the mountains to hunt and breed and the Gaernjo were taking their food and destroying their habitat. This sparked the humans to attack the dragons and the dragons fought back, beginning the war.   After a year of fighting, the Gaernjo formed the Hórkylaj, elite warriors trained especially to kill the dragons. For years the Hórkylaj would fight the dragons when they attacked, eventually hunting them down in their nests to prevent attacks and attempting to wipe them out completely.   After eight years of bloody war with massive losses on both sides, a legion of Hórkylaj marched into the mountain to finally exterminate the dragons. Among their ranks was a band of young men who had been drafted to fight in the war who did not agree with the extermination of the dragons. As the legion were travelling through a difficult pass, the band of five escaped and tried to turn back, unwilling to slaughter the dragons, despite the destruction they had caused to their people.   On their way back however, the men became lost in the thick cloud and one of them perished after falling of a narrow ledge. As night fell, the men could hear dragons circling overhead. Left exposed on the barren mountainside, they lay down their weapons and waited to die as they had no hope of navigating the treacherous mountains and returning home.   However, instead of attacking the four men, a dragon landed before them and sat down. Baffled by the beast's behaviour, the men sat motionless until one stood and approached it. The dragon allowed the man to come closer, so close he could almost touch it. And then he did, forging the first bond between man and dragon.   The other three soon found themselves surrounded by three other dragons, each man drawn to a different beast. Each one forged a new bond. They felt the fear and pain that their people had inflicted on the dragons and knew they had to end the war peacefully.   The four men, despite their initial hesitance, climbed on the backs of their dragons and flew to where the dragons were hiding, and where the Hórkylaj were heading.   They arrived in time to intercept the advancing Hórkylaj and halt them in their tracks. The men explained what had happened to them, that they now share a sacred bond with the dragons on which they sat. Believing the men to be under some kind of possesion by the dragons, the order was given to attack. Few men did as they too could now feel a pull to the dragons surrounding them.   Many found themselves bonded to a dragon that day. The former Hórkylaj marched back down through the mountains straight to the king to announce the new circumstances. The king was forced to believe the men as there was too much evidence to suggest otherwise.   A peace treaty, bound by magic, was forged between humans and dragons. Those who had been bonded to a dragon were tasked with maintaining the peace.